


The Red Strings of Fate

by everyonehasbeatenmetotheusername



Category: The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms (Album), The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Bittersweet Ending, F/M, I'm so sorry, M/M, Planet Destruction, Red String of Fate, this made me so sad to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:27:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26681374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everyonehasbeatenmetotheusername/pseuds/everyonehasbeatenmetotheusername
Summary: What was their soulmate like? The question that once delighted them as a child now haunted Lyfrassir as they walked around the ship. What lay at the end of the Red String? What had fate decided was your perfect match?  They were questions nearly every Midgardian had considered at least once, and Lyf had contemplated them millions of times. They had the honor, tragedy, unique circumstance of nine Red Strings. They never had the money or the time to follow all them, but that was fine. Fate would lead Lyf to their destiny. Right? Unfortunately, Lyf had since learned that sometimes fate just wanted to make them suffer.
Relationships: Ivy Alexandria/Lyfrassir Edda, Lyfrassir Edda & The Mechanisms, Lyfrassir Edda/Marius von Raum, Lyfrassir Edda/The Mechanisms Ensemble, Raphaella la Cognizi/Lyfrassir Edda
Comments: 2
Kudos: 80





	The Red Strings of Fate

Lyf didn’t know how long it had been when they found the severed end. Months...years...time had little meaning in space, and they no longer had a sun to refer to. All they knew was that one day they noticed a strand dangling along the space ship. Nothing new. They had several, all connected to their hand, leading to what was supposed to be their soulmates. But this one wouldn’t lead anywhere. Not anymore. 

Eventually they decided to drag it inside the ship. It was long, but not long enough. They examined the cut end. They stared at it for what might have been called hours, once. Somewhere, across the galaxy, there was a corpse whose String matched it. They didn’t cry when they realized it. They didn’t cry at all. Not anymore.

What was their soulmate like? The question that once delighted them as a child now haunted Lyfrassir as they walked around the ship. What lay at the end of the Red String? What had fate decided was your perfect match? They were questions nearly every Midgardian had considered at least once, and Lyf had contemplated them millions of times. They had the honor, tragedy, unique circumstance of nine Red Strings. They never had the money or the time to follow all them, but that was fine. Fate would lead Lyf to their destiny. Right? Unfortunately, Lyf had since learned that sometimes fate just wanted to make them suffer.

When Lyf first realized that three of their strings lead to the holding cells, they went directly to their boss and requested the rest of the day off. They went back to their apartment in a panic. They couldn’t believe that a third of their soulmates were criminals! What if the rest of them were too? They couldn’t just leave their job, and they didn’t think their soulmates would be able to either. For the first time they doubted fate. Then they met the people the strings were attached to, and their doubt turned to resentment. 

Their soulmates were not just criminals. They were obnoxious, loud, destructive, and worst of all they completely ignored the Strings. Lyf didn’t understand it. Why didn’t Alexandria comment on the probability of the three of them being held at the station Lyf worked at? Why didn’t La Cognizi realize why they visited so often compared to every other officer? Why didn’t Von Raum, of all people, take the opportunity to tease them for their connection? More questions they would never get the answers to. Maybe the prisoners got out before the incident, maybe they didn’t. It didn’t matter. Either way they’d probably never see them again.

Of course, the second Lyf became resigned to that reality, they came across the Aurora and the rest of their soulmates. And of course, because Fate was a bitch, the rest of the mechanisms were just as obnoxious, loud, destructive, and criminal. None of them mentioned the strings either. 

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. When they first got on the ship, Marius asked them why they were walking around with a piece of string tied to their finger. Then they realized it. They didn’t mention the Red Strings because they didn’t want to be their soulmate, they didn’t mention it because they couldn’t see them. As Lyf slowly realized this, they started laughing. Of course they couldn’t see the Strings, it was obvious. While they looked like Lyf, the mechanisms weren’t Midgardian. Since they weren’t Midgardian, they couldn’t see the Strings that connected them, only the broken ones. Since there were no more Midgardians, no one else would ever see the Strings either. Once Lyf realized that they started crying. No one asked about the string after that.

~~~

Lyf eventually realized that just dragging the String along beside them as they wandered the halls of the Aurora wasn’t going to work anymore. It made the others stare, it was a constant reminder, and worst of all it would get caught on walls and machinery. Sometimes they would suddenly wake, convinced they had felt tugging on the loose String, only to find it caught on a corner. It was too much. But they couldn’t cut it off. For one thing it was impossible. At least, that was the accepted reality back when there was a reality for Midgard. If they really wanted to, they could probably find a way to get it off. If nothing else, La Cognizi Raphaella was never one to turn down an impossible experiment. That wasn’t the main problem though. There were many things Lyf would never get back after what happened to their galaxy. They refused to voluntarily give up what they had left. So the String stayed.

Lyf had already developed a habit of keeping to themself, so it came as a surprise to no one when they hadn’t left their room in days. But when they finally came out again, they seemed lighter. Not happier, but their eyes seemed a little less dead and their steps were a little less heavy as they moved throughout the ship. Lyf could feel their eyes on them, and when they suddenly noticed that the string no longer trailed behind them. Instead they now wore a small, braided bracelet on their wrist. Ivy had noticed it first, when they went to return a book on Midgardian braiding techniques. She wanted to ask, of course she wanted to know Why, but she remembered what happened when Marius pointed out the string. They all did. So Lyf still had their peace, for now.

~~~

Things were fine, for a while. Lyf spent more time with the mechs than by themself, which was a definite improvement over the months they’d spend in their room, staring at their Strings. Staring at the severed end. Wondering where it had led. Knowing where the other ones went. But things were getting better. The severed end was safely tucked away in the bracelet, braided in an intricate pattern. One of the few aspects of Midgardian culture that survived.

No one had talked about it since Marius’s first attempt all those months? Years? ago, and that was fine. If everything continued as it was, Lyf would be able to go the rest of their existence without ever having to explain the Red Strings to the mechanisms. But once again, Fate reared its ugly head towards its favorite punching bag.

~~~

The first string hadn’t alarmed Lyf. It was space. Debris floated by the Aurora constantly, and while it looked almost identical to Strings on their hand, it was easy to pass it off as coincidence. But then they saw more. And more. Strings flowing and entwining together leading to a single point.

The Bifrost had left its mark on Lyf. Lyf knew this. They knew this when they found multicolored strands of hair on their scalp, when strange archaic words they didn’t understand were on the tip of their tongue, and when they saw colors and things that others could not. What they did not know was that this included all Strings, not just the ones connected to them. Why would they? Midgardians were the only ones with the Strings, and Midgard was gone. After the destruction of the Yggdrasil system, centuries went by before it was safe for ships to go back to that portion of space. On maps it was labeled simply as The Yggdrasil Graveyard. 

All Lyf could see was red. The Strings tangled with each other as they drifted through space. Occasionally they would see a finger bone float by. Sometimes they saw a corpse, mutated beyond recognition. They could feel themself breathing faster and faster as they saw severed end after severed end, Strings frayed and tangled and unraveling. They felt the Strings on their hand tug. They grabbed the bracelet and yanked it apart. Tearing, searching for the severed end. Somewhere in that red mass was its partner. Maybe they could find it. Maybe they could still find their soulmate.

If Lyf had their way, they’d still be there to this day. Untangling threads, comparing cut ends. Retying strings, doing what Fate would not. Performing funeral after funeral, mourning every death they couldn’t save, every person that didn’t learn in time, and all the things they knew and felt that were lost to time. Maybe they weren’t able to figure it out in time. Maybe they weren’t able to save anyone. But they could do this. Let the last of their people rest in dignity. Pay their penance for their inadequacy.

They didn’t. The mechanisms were loud and obnoxious and worst of all they blocked the exit. So Lyf stayed. The Aurora hasn’t been to that part of space since. They don’t talk about the bracelet. They don’t talk about how it was practically torn apart when Lyf stared into nothing. But Lyf will. Someday. Someday Lyf will tell them about Fate and its Red Strings.


End file.
